Who Are Debt Collectors and How Do They Work

Every financing companies and banks have their front liners and office workers when it comes to working specializations. This enables a balanced responsibility of workers within these institutions based on their respective duties. While some focus on managerial assignments in the office to manage all operations, others focus on field assignments to make ends meet. This is true to financing companies and banks as well that rely on both fronts to perform all of their businesses. This can be seen in the job description of debt collectors and how do they do their work in the field. 

True to their name, debt collectors are a group of companies or agencies that specialize in collecting debts from debtors. Debt collectors usually work under some companies’ behalf to raise money owed by the debtors. Debt collectors typically work when these debtors fail to pay their previously agreed debts due to several reasons. Ranging from tolerable reasons to more unsavoury ones, debtors who are late in paying their debts are part of the debt collectors’ authority. In some cases, companies are subjects of the debt collectors’ responsibilities instead of individual debtors who owe the debt by themselves. 

Due to the nature of the debt collecting work, not everyone can become debt collectors based solely on their discretion. Necessary education history and past work experience are crucial in determining the debt collectors’ trustworthiness. Since there are chances for debt collectors to be opportunistic in their jobs, only those with trusted integrity and experience can become debt collectors for their companies. This is also caused by the responsibilities of the collectors not to divulge sensitive personal information of the debtors to other parties. 

Usually, debtors will owe the money that they have borrowed before through first-party or third party agencies. This will differentiate the way the debt collectors work in receiving due payment from these debtors. There are several responsibilities of debt collectors in doing their daily tasks. These responsibilities may range from offering chances of payment negotiation with the debtors to presenting several payment options for the debtors to prevent future debts. Despite the Debtors’ obligation to pay their due payments, debt collectors are also obliged to offer several solutions to the debtors. Since conventional payment methods can be too financially constricting to the debtors, this will enable the best way for the debtors to repay with their current capabilities. 

In doing their work, debt collectors may use several methods and facilities to collect data of customers with significant debts. This includes raising the customers’ identities, current financial income, monthly spending amount, and many others. The collectors can receive any of the debtors’ contact numbers through any means to ensure communication between them and the debtors. Through these personal contact numbers, the debt collectors can contact the debtors during work hours, even though the debtors are currently working. Moreover, the debt collectors can also contact the debtors multiple times in a day to reach the debtors as soon as possible. 

Other than contacting the debtors through phone numbers, debt collectors can also work by coming to the debtors’ houses to inform about the debtors’ current debts. This is a rather common practice for debt collectors whose debtors have failed to reply to the collectors back. By coming directly to the debtors’ houses, debt collectors can coerce anyone at these houses to inform about the unpaid debts. In addition to this, debt collectors may also contact the debtors’ colleagues or neighbours to pass on the details about the ongoing debts.  

Debt collectors have to work on through several steps of the process in collecting debts from debtors. Firstly, debt collectors can only begin to perform debt collecting once the debtors have failed to pay the indebtedness past the agreed deadline. In this part, debt collectors are not allowed to immediately contact the debtors after the period, especially a day or two after the deadline. There are chances where the debtors have already sufficient funds to repay the debts but do not have the time to repay them in this period. Only after this period has passed that debt collectors can begin to contact the debtors. 

After some time has passed after the deadline, debt collectors must gather the necessary authority statement from their employers. Since debt collectors are not allowed to meet the debtors indiscriminately, they must not perform violence or give threats to the debtors upon meeting them. Despite the authority the debt collectors have in their tasks, they are not necessarily above the law, and they must comply with the existing regulations in collecting debts. Debt collectors who persist on being violent or threatening needlessly to the debtors are prone to receiving complaints from the debtors in this matter. 

Thirdly, debt collectors can meet the debtors during work hours to ensure efficiency and best results from their interaction. Since work hours are the ethically acceptable period to receive debt deadline information from the collectors, debt collectors are advised to meet the debtors in these hours. Usually, 08.00 AM – 08.00 PM is the standard activity hours for many people so that debt collectors can meet the debtors in these hours. Upon reaching the debtors, they can discuss the best solution to work on the debts’ repayment and how will the debtors pay the debts gradually. 

Finally, debt collectors are no different from other types of profession in society. Despite their occasionally feared reputation for being intrusive and callous in demanding debt payments from debtors, debt collectors have to be lawful as well in their jobs. Not to mention, it is within the debtors’ rights to complain about the debt collectors’ illegal actions whenever the collectors discomfort them. Moreover, in turn, debt collectors need to abide by the existing regulations and laws to avoid unnecessary conflict between the debtors and the collectors. Through lawful interaction and discussion, both sides can discuss the best way to repay the existing debts. 

With AdIns Mobile answer the challenge to effectively control, manage, and monitor your field collector thoroughly in the collection activity by equipping your collector with Mobile Collection. This debt collector application will limit their cash on hand, integrated bluetooth receipt printer, and see all of the collection activities through a monitoring dashboard.